Messages - Tresrissa

Tressie sighed expressively, not for any particular obvious reason, but just because it felt appropriate to accent her coming words. "Hate is a very taxing emotion Nealros." But she didn't say more than that. Her little brother had always been so... different from her. Hate didn't work for her, it never had, but maybe it worked for him. She could only advise as every older sister had the responsibility to do.

Wiping a thumb over a final slash of pinkish blood, lightened by the tears the boy had shed, Tressie nodded down at him. "People think they're ugly, horrible things until they're face to face with an angry wher. And you with a beautiful, hulking gold like Tavisk? I'm sure they wouldn't mess with you."

Tressisk admittedly, was not only a little ugly and horrible, but small, and most people found her unintimidating. Of course, that was only until she started growling, her eyes turning red, encroaching on their territory. Yeah. That's when they'd stopped messing with her too. After that, they'd all been incredibly polite, some even attempted to be friendly. Although Tressie always noticed the eyes that strayed from her to Tressisk.

She smiled at Nealros, her heart still a little tight seeing how swollen her little brother's face was. "Come on. If we sneak you in now, we might be able to get you some food before Ma and Pa get home and see..." She hesitated. "This." And she gestured vaguely at his face, grimacing apologetically at her not-so eloquent way of putting it.

Tressisk's backed started to arch, like a cat whose hackles were raised if someone did them wrong. Her tail moved to secure itself around Tresrissa's ankle, letting her know in no uncertain terms that she was going to let this little person tell her what to do. Tresrissa on the other hand, was more than fine with taking or giving orders.

The green sensed Tressie's acceptance and started to growl at the apprentice who had obviously ordered her to leave. "Tressisk. No. Tressisk. Shut up. Get outside. Go find Tavisk or Rossk... or anyone, just get out." While most other people didn't understand the aggressive little wher, Tressisk had a special place in Tresrissa's heart, reserved for her wher and her wher only. Unfortunately, with her body starting to heat up, sweat breaking out on her forehead, and trying to keep down bile, Tresrissa didn't have time for Tressisk's overprotectiveness.

"Healer Tressisk. Healers Tressisk." She tried to reiterate when the wher hesitated again. Her face hardened. "If you don't get out they're not going to fix me." Tressisk turned, with a departing snarl at the apprentice and loped out, pushing her way through the crowd to complete her orders as quickly as possible.

Breathing in deeply through her nose, and turning back to the apprentice, Tresrissa spoke, "There, now can I have a bucket?" And a shaky but still Tressie-esque smiled appeared on her face.

"Uh right." Tressie felt sick to her stomach, but this woman wasn't even making sense anymore. Shards, what was taking this line so long to move. It was the Hall making her feel sick, that was for sure, and this woman who looked like she might pass out at her feet now.

"Actually, she's really not all that lovely." Tresrissa said breathily, trying to avoid thinking about the sweat breaking out on cheeks and the bile in her throat. "Uh Tressisk," she said, eyeing the other woman's placement of hand on forehead, "Can you go get someone?" Tresrissa had to stop speaking to swallow heavily. "Because I'm not sure either of us are going to make it."

Tressisk's mind immediately conferred an image of Tavianna, then Notkerric, Nyc and Nealros. "Not them you silly thing. They don't know a thing about healing. A healer Tressisk, a healer."

With slightly clearer instructions, Tressisk nosed anxiously away from her handler, before pushing away and barrelling towards the nearest healer. The green was slightly less gentle than she could have been, not wanting to communicate properly with anyone else but still wanting them to come as quickly as possible. Eventually she resorted to getting behind the healer and pushing them, her head pressed up against their lower back, guiding them towards Tresrissa and the other ill woman.

Tresrissa almost breathed a sigh of relief, she wanted to prove that she was going to be fine, and she wanted to be able to pass it all off like it was nothing. In reality, Tressie hated being sick. It made her feel so weak, so out of control. But it was unlikely she'd be sick for long if her family had anything to say about it... If she had anything to say about it. Regardless, having someone who seemed to be nice trying to talk to her was more than she could have hoped for. The healer hall freaked her out.

Looking the woman up and down, Tressie replied under her breath. "If you want me to be honest? Not at all." She smiled a slightly strained smile, the feeling of nausea rising again as they took a step forward in the line. "If you'd like me to give the easy answer, then yes, I'm fine."

Tressisk pressed herself against her thigh, a calming weight and heat against her even as the wher's tension built. Her hand came down to rub reassuringly at Tressisk's jaw, murmuring soft words to her green, breathing through her nose when the bile tried to creep up her throat again.

"You sick too?" She asked, trying to keep her mind off what she was feeling right now.

Tresrissa had felt the stirring of a headache that morning, but it had only been when the riders had arrived at the Mine Hall that morning, informing everyone of the Flush Fever outbreak that had convinced Tressie to head over to the Weyr for a check up at the Hall... and of course, her families insistence as well... She didn't think it was flush fever. In fact, she felt just fine. Mostly just a little annoyed at having to wait so long in a line doing nothing.

But she'd taken the opportunity to chat up a few of the people waiting for their own check up; crafters, holders, creche workers, children. It seemed like the whole Weyr were turning out to spend a morning in the Healer Hall. The sheer amount of people also waiting in line made Tresrissa think even less about her own probability of sickness. Not everyone here could be sick. Most of them had probably had a headache like her, or had eaten some bad fish a few days before. Didn't mean they had Flush Fever.

Hands laced in front of her, swaying slightly from foot to foot to keep her entertained, Tressie waited for the next Healer to be available and call her up. She opened her mouth to start a new conversation as her patience for waiting in silence wavered before snapping it shut again over the roiling taste of bile.

Tressisk's back straightened, lips curling at the unfamiliar distress emanating through their bond. Her eyes darkening in colour and whirling faster as she pressed herself against Tressie's thigh.

Nose wrinkling and lips pressed tightly together, Tressie's eyes quickly surveyed the room for the most discrete place where should could... take care of her current problem. As another heave rippled through her Tresrissa darted from the line, slipped around a privacy screen and emptied her breakfast into a bucket.

If she was any less of a lady she might have sworn.

As it stood, Tresrissa was a lady, so she cleaned herself up, straightened her skirt, and slipped back into the queue, Tressisk still tense and padding by her side.

Tressie had managed to extricate herself from her family with only a modicum of resistance. She was just going to make the most of the night, see a few more of the folk whom she had made friends with when they had lived at the Weyr and hadn't followed for some reason or another. Who they were specifically didn't come up, and where she was going specifically, was carefully avoided as well. The Hall was just so loud with so many people celebrating after all.

The promise however, to return before it got too late was an honest one. Tresrissa just wanted to have a bit of fun, away from the constant overseeing of her brothers and parents. She didn't resent the company, not at all, her favourite moments in her life had involved her family, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't appreciate some space every now and then. Her family was typically quite happy to give it to her. After all, they had more than enough to do in their everyday lives than to constantly supervise the grown up Tresrissa.

As her eyes swept over faces and tops of heads, Tressie realised that she was indeed looking for a specific person. Seeing a flash of Red really was her hope in finding the pair. Her face creased up in consideration, would Masath be too large to come into the Weyrhall now? Tressie had to admit that she had never paid that much attention to a specific dragon and riders growth, they just hadn't... held her attention for that long. How big did they growth in two months? Cause it had been about that long right?

Tressisk nosed her leg, pulling her out of the way of the corridor as a man brought through a large serving dish stacked with used and forgotten cups and dishes, obviously intending to start the clean up process as soon as possible. Wrinkling her nose, she moved away, definitely not wanting to be roped in for any sort of cleaning duty.

"If you were a weyrling, Tressisk, where would you be, hmm?" The green just gave her a look, before turning back towards the crowded Hall. "Great. Not helpful at all." Tressisk didn't deign her grumbling with any sort of response.

Finally deciding that standing full heads shorter than most of the other occupants of the room wouldn't be helping her quest at all, Tressie pushed past Tressisk's always subtly defensive body in front of her. "I'm going to get a better vantage point." She said determined, striding forward to stand upon and recently emptied chair, and thanking the man who loaned her his shoulder for balance. Admittedly, he hadn't offered his shoulder to her, but Tressie didn't worry over such small facts.

"Aha!" She patted shoulder-man on the head, thanked him for his service, and slipped her way through table after table much more discreetly. "S'nis!" Tressie said brightly when she reached him. "I've been looking forever for you." It wasn't precisely true, but again, details.

"Tressisk- I'm getting a stitch." She tried to slow, but her whers head was firmly placed on her back, pushing her down the passage towards their family cavern. It was the default safe location after all. With the entrance in sight, Tressie couldn't help but laugh a little at how determined Tressisk was to get her inside, not almost there, not nearly there, and running all the way too.

"Okay okay we're here." She bent over a little bit, clutching at her side, panting. "Shards you're fast. You know you could have adjusted to make up for my little human legs."

Looking around at the cloth hangings over the entrances to the personal bed caves of her siblings and parents, she narrowed her eyes a little before calling out. "Helloooo. Anyone still here?" Whether she wanted them to be there or not she wasn't entirely sure. If they were here, it means that she might potentially be the one giving them the bad news, but if they weren't then... well. They could be anywhere.

"Ros? Nyc?" When they'd moved in together, all three siblings had agreed to at least ask before entering their private rooms. Tressie didn't really see why their personal space mattered so much, Nealros had Ellariel and Nyc had Caleah, so why did they need her to knock. But she'd agreed, and would simply shout until they heard her. "Ellariel? Kids?"

"Elrethra!" Tressie exclaimed, perhaps a little too high pitched, but the night was exciting, the crowd was loud, and she'd already helped herself to a little bit of the wine which had emerged for such a special occasion. Why have such a dazzling smile if she didn't use it?

Sliding her arm into her cousin's, she picked up the pace, slightly dragging her healer cousin towards the table where she'd spotted their mothers, only letting go when they were firmly in sight of the table. Elrethra had managed to escape their large family, but only barely. Being apprenticed to the healer hall meant that her cousin was forced to stay at the Weyr, and whilst Tressie secretly thought that Elrethra much preferred it that way, it didn't excuse her from the compulsory family gatherings. Healer or not, they had a reputation to uphold.

"Look who I found loitering in the entrance?" She said cheerfully, plopping somewhat gracefully down into one of the chairs. Elrethra glowered, and murmured something about how she'd been on the way when Tressie had decided she was trying to shirk. The healer gave her mother a kiss on the forehead before taking her own seat, purposefully far away from Tresrissa. Tressie just smiled brightly at her cousin.

"So, Ma. Has Papa managed to drag you out onto the dance floor to shake your stuff yet?"

Spoiler for Hidden:

Since I posted Elrethra earlier, I just squished her in here. But here ya go!

Tressisk almost huffed in annoyance, but Tresrissa had been pushing soothing thoughts towards her wher since Masath had set her sights upon the green. She didn't know that this shell placement ordeal was supposed to continue. It had been her assumption that she'd... reciprocate, and then it would be over. She would be praised for her polite socialisation, and be allowed to take Tressie away from the strange pair. It frustrated her to misinterpret the rules of engagement.

Turning her eyes up to Tressie warily, she slowly took a step toward the Red, attempting to slide the shell from her shiny green snout, to Masath's wine coloured one, bumping their two snouts against each other. It was sweet, but quite probably not the type of play that Masath was looking for. From Tresrissa's independent observation, Masath seemed like more of the bouncy type, and might have the potential to get annoyed at Tressisk's uninitiated ways. They'd have to see.

Tressie smiled at the mostly honest assessment of Tressisk, most people at the Mine Hall were far too afraid of her parents to comment on the green's attitude, and it was... refreshing. She didn't notice that this sentence was significantly longer than what S'nis had been engaging in previously, because it didn't come across as unnatural to her at all.

Her pout however, was frightfully pretty. "Nope. I live over at the Hall, although I take what opportunities I can to come over to the Weyr." She lowered her voice conspiratorially, "It's much more interesting." Brightening up again, she continued. "But whenever I do make it over here, I'd love to come and talk to you again." A smile down at Masath included them both in the request... or was it an invitation?

Tresrissa enjoyed the bustle of an early morning, when the miners and holders were out in force for breakfast, and the rider's with their daily deliveries were imminent arrivals. It meant she could watch some new people, and make a note of those she had already seen. It was just to see whether she could try to piece together who their family was and what they were at the Mine Hall for. If she couldn't do so reliably, she was also perfectly content to just make it up. An interesting backstory was much more interesting than the real one in most cases.

As usual, Tressisk was right by her side, pressing her shoulder against Tressie's seated side as she ate breakfast. The creaking of the doors, and the whoosh of dragonwings announced to her that Prairie had arrived. Swinging her legs over the bench, she turned to smile at the entrance, waiting to see what awaited her entertainment for today.

Tressisk froze beside her, before raising herself quickly from her stiffly seated position, and tugged on Tressie's sleeve, urgently enough so that her bonded started moving before she even realised what was happening, following Tressie back towards the caves with a surprised laugh. "What's gotten you all riled up?" She asked surprised, quickening her step as Tressisk's eyes reddened and she started to trot faster away from the centre of the dining cavern. The scream from outside the now ajar doors almost made Tresrissa trip, as she turned, open-mouthed to stare back at the door. "Hunters?" Tressisk just yanked harder, ripping the sleeve of Tresrissa's shirt.

By the time Tresrissa had turned the first corner into the Holder caves, she heard the scream of a much closer, much louder Hunter. Tressisk spun around, placing her head on Tressie's butt, and the two of them ran.

Tressisk tensed as the dragon approached, ready to do whatever was necessary if the red got too close to her Tressie. What she would do if the red did indeed get close, was still up in their air, but she wouldn't be afraid to take her on if need be.

Instead, she froze, with the shell on her nose forcing both eyes to cross as she tried to keep her gaze upon the thing, trying to figure out what on Pern was going on. But luckily, the wher didn't seem to be taking Masath as too much of a threat, and even Tresrissa's shoulders had tightened a bit when the red had approached. Not that Tressie really ever considered being hurt by a dragon, but she knew her wher's temperament, she wasn't going to underestimate the green.

The sight of the grown man trying to grab his slippery dragon by hers wings made Tresrissa laughed out loud. A beautiful tinkling kind of sound. Of course, why wouldn't Tressie have a beautiful laugh just like everything else? Her hand waved in the air, as if pushing aside a physical representation of his apology. "Don't worry about it. Tressisk is a tight wad, aren't you darling?" One hand snagged the shell off of Tressisk's nose, as the other went to the tight muscles of Tressisk's shoulder to reassure her.

It worked, the green's muscles untensing, before her snout went to nuzzle at Tressisk's hand, opening it to reveal the shell, mimicking Masath's earlier action. It was an amusing sight in all honestly. Where Masath's plonk of shell on snout had been purposeful and sure, Tressisk's was slow, hesitant, and completely unsure of how to play.

Strangely enough, Tresrissa felt a little... proud of her wher. Tressisk had always been nice to her family, and had somewhat played with her brother's children, and her younger cousins, but the green had always been so uptight around strangers.

Turning her eyes back to S'nis she giggled. "See? Masath is doing just perfectly." Those swirling green eyes were a little startling, so full of something that Tressie didn't quite understand.

When the little Red directly addressed her, even with something as simple as that little trill, Tresrissa politely returned her gesture with a happy and cheery smile. Whilst she knew in general that her family didn't think too highly of the dragonriders of the Weyr, and whilst she personally didn't understand the life that they seemed to choose to lead, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy a conversation with someone.

All in all, Tressie was curious. She had heard all sorts of interesting things about these new red dragons. They were violent, didn't like people, enjoyed causing pain, were just insane little runts. This one however, seemed friendly enough, and considering she looked actually a little smaller than Tressisk at the moment, Tresrissa didn't really see what all the fuss was about.

"Ma and I love them, I wish we got to see more of them." If S'nis' pause between his next words was anything longer than one might typically want from a conversation, Tressie didn't notice, her attention too had been drawn back to the runners, and sweeping over the crowd, some faces she knew, some she didn't, all simply having fun and enjoying a day together. A perfect kind of day in her opinion.

However when he spoke again, she did politely turn her attention back to him. After all, there was only so long her attention could be kept by staring at people she saw everyday, and runners that all looked pretty much the same.

"I'm Tresrissa." She said with a smile, holding out her hand delicately for a shake. Sure, it wasn't something that was required for her, usually that was something her parents seemed to reserve for business transactions, but Tresrissa personally enjoyed the action. "Or Tressie. Take your pick."

With Tresrissa's hand now firmly within the rider's personal space, Tressisk pushed closer against her thigh, eyes trained carefully on where their hands were to meet. The green had never particularly liked the speed at which Tressie took to be open and inviting to complete strangers. "Oh, and this is Tressisk." Unlike the Red's polite greeting, the green made no such move to do the same. "What's your lovely... dragon's name?" She asked brightly and with a smile, only slightly hesitating when she realised she had no clue how to identify the gender of his dragon.

Tresrissa had enjoyed the morning so far, it was lively and there were people everyone. People she hadn't met before, and she wouldn't get into trouble for meeting... not just this once. And besides, she was here to have fun. The others might be here to make a good impression, and Tresrissa surely wouldn't try to do anything to ruin that, but she wasn't going to just not have fun on a day like this.

Nyc was fun for a while, but he had all the kids to deal with, and after playing the fishers game and getting bored by the expectation she stop and let children have a go, Tressie simply got bored with them. Waving her family goodbye, she checked out the other booths. Her face was painted in pastels, blues and pinks in waving swirling patterns. There had been a cute guy there, but unfortunately she'd gotten this old crone, she was nice enough, but hadn't occupied her attention long enough to stay.

She jingled her slightly smaller amount of marks in her hand as she walked, enjoying the satisfying tinkling sound. The knife booth didn't seem incredibly interesting but she had seen Ophyonis over there previously, so perhaps she should go bet on her parents man? Yes, Ophy would surely appreciate the gesture.

Through the gap between the booths, Tressie was distracted however. Oh wow... The runners. They were beautiful creatures weren't they? Even the food couldn't distract her from watching their powerful, glistening bodies. Flinging her arms over the barrier which separated the general public from the track, she leaned up against it so watch the race in wonder.

However, as expected, when the race was over, Tressie's attention quickly needed to be recaptured, and she looked around for her next event. And there she saw him. A Weyrling, with a little red dragon. He looked... hesitant, or perhaps he was just watching the races. Either way, he seemed... interesting.

When Tresrissa approached, Tressisk was decidedly unhappy at the idea of her approaching a strange dragonrider and dragon. "They're beautiful aren't they?" She gave him a slow smile, and gestured towards the races but without looking away from him.

Tresrissa's face hardened uncharacteristically, it wasn't often that she got angry, but a brief moment did cross her mind, before her simple trust in her family overtook it again.

Allowing him to finish his story, Tresrissa pulled a waterskin from the pouch on Tressisk's side, and ripped a strip from her skirts. "Here. You can wash up now." A pretty skirt, but she was sure she'd be able to get another one. It wouldn't do for mother and father to see him like this, although she wasn't entirely sure that even without the blood that his swollen lip and eye would go unnoticed. Either way, it gave her hands something to do.

At 11 turns, Tresrissa certainly hadn't missed the whispers that travelled around Fort Hold about their families occupation. But the life her parents had built for them certainly wasn't bad, and certainly wasn't something that Tressie regretted.

"You know you're right Nealros. They're stupid and jealous." Tresrissa simply didn't understand why others wouldn't like her family. Her mother was perfect, her father amazing, how could anyone dislike them for any reason other than jealously? So what her mother had a job that others didn't, her father was a peacekeeper.

"Pa is a peacekeeper. Ma is a business woman. That's all that matters. If their parents are liars and thieves, so be it. They're just jealous that they don't have a family like ours."

"Sorry." She said, genuinely apologetic. Tressie did know how much her little brother disliked, she just... slipped up sometimes, found it hard to remember when others purposefully used the name. But she was going to try, try harder to not use it anymore. At least... only use it when she was being spiteful, cause then Nealros would know the difference.

Her heart clenched at the look that he gave her then, the pleading look that made her want to rethink everything she had been programmed to do. It was... simply what she did. If something happened, she told her parents, and then Tavianna and Notkerric would make it all okay again but... that look made her want to break the rules just this once.

"Fine Nealros." She said, careful to make sure she used the name he wanted this time. "If you tell me the truth of what happened, then maybe I'll not tell Ma." Whilst she didn't explicitly say Pa, she wasn't going to trick him with a mincing of words, it simply wasn't her style.

"Here," she looked around to make sure there was no one coming, it wouldn't do for anyone to see the son and daughter of Tavianna in such a state, and beckoned him to a little room off the side. It seemed like a storage room, but was dark and dusty and not particularly well-used, so she thought it would give them a bit of privacy to hash out whatever they needed to.

"Now you don't leave anything out Nealros." She said firmly. Tressie wanted to be on her brother's side, but she also didn't want him defending any of his attackers, because that was surely what this was. The aftermath of some ridiculous childhood brawl, wasn't it?

Tresrissa had spent the day training Tressisk. Whilst Tavianna could have helped, and surely had before, her mother had let her know that Tressisk was her responsibility, and it was up to her to make sure the wher was properly trained and an asset to their family. And so, when her duties to her family had been done for the day, Tressie had been taking the little green off to train.

It seemed to be working well, but Tressie was slightly uncertain as to whether she was doing a good job, or the wher just simply wanted to be taught. She seemed smart, and willing to do anything Tressie asked of her, it really didn't take much to train the green.

But the two had been working on strengthening exercises recently, the green was small and neither of them wanted her to be the weaker party if anything happened. A fault of her colour perhaps, Tressisk would always be the one who had to work harder than anyone else, but both of them seemed content to work together and fix that.

"Good job Tressisk," she was saying, "Tomorrow we'll have to do that again, you need to work more on the larger stuff, body sized weights you know?" Before she ran right into Nealros.

"Nealros? Neal? Hey." Her hand went up to his face, her eyes sharpening with anger when she saw the cut across his lip, and the bruises which were forming slowly but surely. "Are you okay?" Her voice steely, she continued, "Who did this to you?"

"Food." Tressie said happily, as she paused in her walk to look into an alcove branching off the main passageway. "Looks like we got a pretty good cavern." She said, pulling her head from out of the room and starting to walk again, constantly looking around, occassionally having to squish up against the wall to let those carrying chairs, tables, cots and chests into their new caverns to get past her.

It was busy, and Tresrissa was glad for it, she wasn't going to have to be cooped up in here, sure, she'd tell her parents where she was going, and check that it was okay to go. But they were safe here now, and Tressisk had never left her side in turns.

"We're going to like it here I think." She said matter-of-factly to her brother and Tressisk. Tressisk on the other hand, was not so excited about the hustle and bustle. It meant a great deal of strangers being far too close to Tressie for her liking. But at least she was out of that horrid cage.

Tapping a nearby man on the shoulder, and having to reach up significantly as he was so large, she waited patiently for him to acknowledge her. "Excuse me, do you know where the uh.." she tried to remember what it would be called in a Weyr, "Weyrhall is? Somewhere we can get some food." Tresrissa couldn't help the batting of her eyes, nor the smile that would dazzle many a man that lay on her face. She had advantages, and she was sure going to use them.

Whilst Tressie had been told that she should keep a muzzle on Tressisk, at every opportunity the youngster had tried to give her wher free space around her head. She had also tried to get Tressisk to sleep on the floor next to her bed, admittedly, not for very long, after once saying "Sit Tressisk" and the green ignoring her and crawling into the covers of the cot, Tressie had decided that she liked that position very much.

However, she was going to see her mother and start official training with Tressisk, so she thought that perhaps it might be a good idea to pull out all the bells and whistles. She was leashed, and Tressie was ready... almost ready. They couldn't expect her to be perfect.

She rushed down the stairs, tying up her hair as she rushed, Tressisk trotting along behind her, her leash held daintily in between her teeth for when Tressie had a spare hand. "I'm ready, I swear. Let's go Nyc." The young girl said, rushing to open the heavy wooden door. But before she could step outside, she heard and felt simultaneously, a mental nudge from her wher, and a clearing of the throat from Nyc.

Tressisk was standing next to the coat rack, where Tressie's mostly waterproof leather jacket was hanging (and obviously not where it should be, on her back), and Nyc was pointing with a long finger at the jacket as well.

It seemed both of them had the exact same idea.

Rushing forward, she slipping her arms into the sleeves of the jacket, buttoned it up at the front, and held out her hand for Tressisk to drop her leash into. "Okay fine, now I'm ready. Can we go?"

Tressisk gave a high purr-like rumble in Nycolussk direction in response to his huff, and the four of them continued out into the rain. It would have looked an interesting sight. Two so young, with whers so young, both dutifully walking next to their handlers, not pulling on their leash, and shying at a puddle. It seemed like the siblings had gotten lucky with their choices.

Grinning widely in response to her brother's own smile, Tressie addressed her mother. "Sorry we're late. Nyc was doing his hair or something." She said cheekily. "So what do we start with?'

Tressisk was scouting out the cavern, chomping down on spinners if they sought to lurk out of their crevices. It wouldn't do to have Tresrissa bitten by one, and neither did her handler particularly like the thought of them crawling all around while she was sleeping.

She wanted to go explore, go talk to people, see what was happening. Sure, she'd been at Fort Hold for her whole life, so there was no reason for her to have not seen dragons before but this was different, she was in a Weyr. Tressie had never even touched a dragon before this day, and whilst she was perfectly happy with Tressisk, there was a whole new hold... Weyr... of people for her to get to know.

When her mother asked her to go source the food, Tressie happily obliged, calling out to her brother as her and Tressisk exited the cavern. She didn't wait for Nyc, but she didn't really need to, he would either catch up with her, or she would be fine on her own, besides, she had Tressisk with her.

Tressie's smile fell from her face at the mention of Hunters. The horrible beasts who lurked in the Jungle just waiting for the unsuspecting to pass too close. Why of all places, did the Hunters have to live here? Fort Island was their home now, why couldn't the Hunters just leave them in peace?

When Nyc turned to Tressie, she almost couldn't concentrate on the words. Tressisk, sensing her distress, pressed up against her thigh, pushing her ugly head into her handlers palm. Warmth filled her mind, and the blur that had set over her cleared. It meant she registered what Nyc said.

She's not coming back.

And it all clicked for her. Caleah was dead. Dead and gone.

I couldn't save her.

Those words were something Tressie had never heard from Nyc before. 'I couldn't' or 'I can't' is not something that was part of Nyc's vocabulary, or at least, not when he was around her. But she didn't blame him. How could she? The Hunters were horrible, they took down dragons and riders and whers alike without much of a warning.

So Tressie understood. She just didn't know that it would hurt this much.

Grinning down at Tavisk, Tressie reached down to run a finger over the Wher's eyeridges, and Tressisk nuzzled her from the other side.

Tressie was glad her mother seemed to be pleased with the cave she had found, and happily went off to stake her claim on a section of the cave which was close enough to all areas. Not right next to the door, and not right in the back, just off to the side a little. The wall was lumpy and rough where she picked, an indicator of how deep into the depths of the mountain they were, but she didn't mind.

She could already imagine where her bed would go, and the trunk at the foot of it, and started to sketch out in her mind how she would be able to decorate it. This was going to be perfectly okay after all. Sure, maybe they would all be in close proximity to one another, but they could make it work. Standing in her little section, she held her arms out, pretending like there was a privacy drape where she was.

"Oh Neal! I can... help..." But her younger brother was already out of the cave before she finish.

"Come on Tressisk." Tresrissa reached down to pull off her Wher's blindfold, now that they were deeper inside the mountain that it wouldn't hurt her eyes. "What do you think?" She moved out to the centre of the room and pointed out different areas of the cave to the general population of the room.

"Ellariel, you and Neal can take that side." She pointed to the opposite side of the cave to where she had picked out. "Nyc and Caleah can go right by the door." Obviously her older brother would want to be where he could see everything going on. "And Mum and Dad can go in the back there." They would have as much privacy as they would need, and could also keep an eye on what everyone was doing.

"Hey Ma? Do you think we're going to need a cave for Tavisk to clutch in? It'd get a bit cramped if we just had to put all the eggs in the middle here." She gestured around her feet where she was standing in the very centre of the room.

Tresrissa had slept in this morning. The sounds of the rest of her family getting ready to go to the minehall to meet Nyc and Caleah had evidently not been loud enough to rouse her from her slumber. So it was Tressisk nosing her awake, projecting an image of her brother's face that eventually had her springing to her feet.

"I'm going to miss the dragon!" She threw on a set of clothes from the trunk at the bottom of her cot, and whizzed out of the cave, running lightly through the halls of the holder and crafter caverns.

After a while however, she got a little out of breath, and she slowed to catch it again, resting one hand against the wall. "Why do we have to live the furthest away from the bowl Tressisk?" The green wher didn't say anything, just nosed the back of her leg to get her moving again.

"Alright, alright. Let's go see Nyc and Caleah." It had been a long time since she had seen either of them, and she was looking forward to being able to have girly chats with Caleah. Nealros' wife Ellariel simply wasn't a viable replacement for Caleah, the conversation was way too dull.

Emerging into the Weyrbowl, she broke into a run towards where the dragonriders were assembling the waiting holders, before a growl behind her made her stop. "Oh right, blindfold, sorry, sorry." Tressisk had thought to bring that too, and she took the piece of fabric from between the whers teeth, and wrapped it over her eyes.

"Now let's go."

It was Tavisk she spotted first, the Gold Wher gleaming in the early morning sun, and next to her... Nycolussk.

"NYC!" He had made it here before they could make it over there, she awaited her turn to give her brother a hug whilst bouncing on the balls of her feet. Quickly throwing herself into his arms when her mother was done she turned around to grin at Caleah.

"Nyc!" She said, a smile still on her face, not grasping the meaning of Caleah's absence. "Where's Caleah? Did she not come across with you? Still at the mine hall?"

“Don’t worry Tressisk.” Tresrissa said as she guided her Wher into the cage that had been supplied to her for the trip between to their new location. “We’ll be to our new home sooner than you know it. Even if I did have to leave so much stuff behind.” The young woman shot a glare at the dragonrider waiting to take her to Fort Island, as if it was him personally who had decided that her things weren’t important enough to come with them.

She said a goodbye in her mind to Fort Hold, and started at the cold of between. It was a day of firsts. First talking to a dragonrider, first touching a dragon, first going between, first day of Fort Island.

It was the green that shocked her, almost burned her eyes with the brightness of it, and she couldn’t help but grin. It was beautiful. And was going to be much more interesting than Fort Hold had ever been. However, she composed herself when she made it to the ground, knowing that her family was anxious for this move, leaving behind their butchery and everything.

So she was determined to be helpful.

Clipping on Tressisk’s leash, and making sure the green’s blindfold was secure, she followed after Nealros into the tunnels, knowing that Nyc would be coming in behind her.

Tressie kept an eye out for a suitable space for them as they walked deeper into the depths of the mountain. She wasn't going to find a space with a window, so she crossed that off her mental list, a place convenient to the underground lake would be nice, she had heard the dragonriders talking about it, and definitely big enough to house all of them. Tavisk needed room for her Whers, her mother needed room for a shop, and she wasn't going to let them all be crowded if she could help it. They were a growing family now.

They needed their space to work.

When she heard her mothers voice, Tressie quickly turned away from the line of siblings towards the direction of where she had heard her mother. Stepping through the doorway, she saw why, the cave was big, and the doorway large enough that even Tavisk would have no trouble getting through.